Urinary incontinence may be caused by a defect function in the tissue or ligaments connecting the vaginal wall with the pelvic muscles and pubic bone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,344 describes a method for treating female urinary incontinence without the necessity of opening the abdomen, which would require hospital care for may be four days. In this method a tape is looped around the muscle tissue of the abdomen to either side of urethra to be implanted into the soft tissue between the vaginal wall and the abdominal wall extending over pubis and with the ends of the tape extending into vagina. The tape is left in the body in order that fibrous tissue shall develop around the tape, said scar tissue functioning as a supporting ligament in the soft tissue. The tape is removed from the body when such scar tissue has developed, which takes about two months.
A surgical instrument of special construction is also proposed for use with this method, comprising a shank having a handle at one end thereof and a curved portion at the other end thereof said portion being intended to be passed into the body via the vagina.
The result obtained by such surgery is not always satisfactory due to the fact that fibrous tissue will not develop sufficiently since the soft tissue between the vaginal wall and the abdominal wall is in bad condition.